When I arrived at the monitoring room with Han Jinlun and met up with Su Liuli, I heard her subordinates cursing resentfully, "Son of a bitch!"
"That cheat actually got away! This kid is slippery as an eel!"
Hearing this, I looked closely.
In the corner of the monitoring room, only the person who had deliberately bumped into the cheat was squatting with his head in his hands.
It seemed that the cheat had indeed escaped!
Without time for pleasantries, I turned to Su Liuli and asked, "Miss Su, didn't you have people ambushed at the entrances and exits? How did that cheat get away?"
Hearing this, Su Liuli's delicate eyebrows shot up in anger. "There's only one entrance and exit open to the public, but for the internal escape routes... there's another one!"
"That cheat escaped through the internal escape route!"
"When my subordinates guarding the entrances and exits told me that the cheat had suddenly disappeared for no reason, I immediately realized something was wrong and quickly sent people to check the escape route."
"We found him, but unfortunately, we couldn't catch him!"
Upon hearing this, I blurted out, "Fortresses are often breached from within! There's a problem with the people in your establishment!"
"That's right!" Su Liuli nodded without hesitation. "After confirming that the cheat had left through the escape route, I immediately came to my senses. The establishment had been infiltrated!"
"The dealer at the baccarat table has been brought under control, and the cards you asked to keep have also been sent over."
"Please examine them. If there's any problem, I'll immediately arrange for the dealer to be interrogated!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a subordinate behind Su Liuli stepped forward, holding a tray.
As expected of a casino owner, despite Su Liuli looking like a beautiful vase, she was actually solid and meticulous, grasping the crux of the problem.
After a moment of silent admiration, and with the principle of helping someone to the end, I took a deck of hidden playing cards from a secret compartment in the card shoe on the tray and placed them on the desk.
Then, I began to compare the points of the banker and the player with the playing cards at the front of the card shoe.
With the cheat not yet apprehended, the only way to prove whether he had cheated was by elimination.
If the dealer who dealt the cards was not problematic, then the problem must lie with the cheat...
As everyone knows, casino baccarat usually uses six decks of cards.
Except for dealers in large establishments who are skilled in handling multiple decks, cards are generally shuffled by automatic shuffling machines.
When cards are shuffled by an automatic shuffling machine, it's very easy for the dealer to cheat: the secret compartment in the card shoe!
Compared to the tricks in twenty-one with multiple decks, cheating in baccarat doesn't have many variations. The secret compartment only needs to be prepared with cards from 1 to 5 points.
As for cards from 6 to 9 points... no need to prepare, a spring-loaded hand will do!
No dealer is unaware of these small tricks.
Placing two decks of cards, one from the card shoe and one from the secret compartment, upright on the table, I then worked with both hands, gently pushing them...
The two decks of playing cards immediately formed two long dragons on the table!
At the same time, my left index and middle fingers at the ends of the two long dragon lines of cards lightly touched and flipped them...
In an instant, the two decks of playing cards flipped over simultaneously like dominoes.
With this back and forth, the order and value of these two decks of cards were all imprinted in my mind.
After stopping and retracting my hands, I lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and said through a cloud of smoke, "The cards... are problematic!"
Hearing my answer, Su Liuli's expression changed instantly.
The cards being problematic meant the dealer was also problematic.
Clearly, the reason the cheat was so brazenly winning money was to provide cover for the real hand manipulating the wins and losses!
And that real hand was... the dealer!
He was the real cheat!
As the saying goes: a low-level cheat targets wealth, a mid-level cheat targets people, and a high-level cheat targets a nation!
To be able to deceive everyone at first glance and play the role of a dealer flawlessly, I could only sincerely say: he's quite something!
The reason this real cheat didn't leave wasn't because he had no chance to escape, but because he knew that once he left, he would be completely exposed!
Therefore, he played an extremely thrilling game of "hiding in plain sight," gambling with a strategy of advancing by retreating.
After all, Su Liuli had personally said that there were no truly skilled experts in her establishment.
Unfortunately, he lost his gamble.
Because I, a fellow practitioner, had arrived like a divine soldier!
For some reason, after confirming that the dealer was problematic, and recalling everything that had happened tonight, I suddenly realized that the problem Su Liuli was facing seemed to be more than just a disruption of the venue!
This was more like a premeditated, precise strike!
If I hadn't accidentally taken Old Zhao's taxi, and if the other party hadn't happened to have his hands-free phone on while chatting, and if another driver hadn't happened to pick up a carload of welders who spoke in江湖 slang, and unintentionally overheard their news about going to work at the Liuli Nightclub...
It's likely that after this pincer attack tonight, Su Liuli's largest nightclub and casino would have truly been overturned!
While I was contemplating, Su Liuli also seemed to realize that the situation was somewhat beyond expectations. She directly ordered her subordinates to interrogate the fake dealer, the real cheat.
After issuing the order, Su Liuli turned to me and said, "Thank you, Chen Xiang! It was my mistake that I couldn't catch that cheat, and I owe you one!"
"You don't mind if I deal with my issues first before we talk about your business?"
Hearing this, I shook my head and chuckled, "I don't mind! It's not like it's urgent anyway."
...
After receiving my affirmative reply, Su Liuli had no other concerns and directly pointed her gun at the young man pinned in the corner, asking, "Speak up! Who told you to do this?"
The pinned young man seemed to have a tough mouth, straining his neck and shouting, "You're talking nonsense!"
"First of all, I don't know what you're talking about! Secondly, isn't your establishment a bit too bullying?"
"I didn't say anything, I didn't do anything, and I didn't win your money. Why are you treating me like a criminal and pinning me down like this!?"
Hearing this, Su Liuli said with a cold face, "Whether we are bullying you or not, you know very well!"
"You can choose not to say anything now, it doesn't matter!"
"When your accomplice confesses, you can still stubbornly refuse to speak! However..."
"It's hard to say if you'll be able to walk out of here alive then!"